My Red Haired Rebel
by Elsa007
Summary: Ginny takes Draco home to meet the family for Christmas. Will their love survive? I promise this is not the cliche Drinny story we've all read a hundred times. There are going to be twists and drama galore! Enjoy! Drinny, Harmione, GeorgexAngelina, and some heart warming and heart wrenching Weasley family moments!
1. The Ever Surprising Molly Weasley

**Author's Note: I do not own Harry Potter-anything you recognize is not mine. Enjoy and review! Pretty please!**

**Draco Malfoy**

I was shaking in my boots. She wasn't. Why would she be? Gryffindor through and through she was braver than I could ever hope to be. Christmas was not supposed to be a time of fear and anxiety. I was supposed to be laughing and celebrating, and having a good time, not preparing for my imminent death. She glanced up at my face as we walked down the lane and noticed my fear. The red haired beauty grinned at me and took my hand in hers. "Relax, Draco. I would say that they are going to love you but that would insinuate that they will love you now. Which no offence, there's no way in hell that's happening. I do promise that if you survive this night they will grow to love you." My eyes narrowed and looked down at her.

"Gee, thanks Gin, I feel so much more relaxed and excited to meet your family now!" I said, my voice oozing with sarcasm. She bit her lip, guiltily and stopped walking up the hill. She took my hands in hers and began explaining what was about to happen.

"Okay, in my head that sounded a lot more reassuring than it did out loud. How about this? Harry will give you a chance once everyone stops yelling at me and then Hermione will follow suit. Ron will never like you so don't even try with him. My parents will give you the benefit of doubt because Dad trusts my judgment and Mum won't want Fred and George," Ginny trailed off suddenly and I saw the hurt and fear in her eyes. "Well she won't want George to get your blood on her carpet." I put my arm around her and tried to give her what little comfort I could. Loosing Fred had been horrible for her and I knew how much she missed him. She would slip up sometimes, say Fred and George like nothing had ever happened because 'Fred and George' sounded so much better than just George. She steeled herself and continued speaking. "Bill will most certainly be the first one to actually like you and Charlie won't be too far behind. Percy is going to be your wild card. A couple years ago he would have been thrilled had I brought a pure blood boy like you home but after everything that went down during the war I'm still not so sure where he stands on everything. Angelina will most likely be there with George and she may say some anti Slytherin because of Quidditch but Angelina supports the Kenmare Kestrels like you so bring that up a bit and you'll be golden in her book. Charlie's obsessed with dragons so if you bring up that volunteer job you did in Romania with the baby dragons that will give you some brownie points with him. Harry will be too busy spending time with Teddy so he may not even notice until after the major fuss has died down."

"And Teddy is my cousin, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, Tonks' son." She said. "So Teddy's mom was your cousin and Teddy's grandma who will be here too is your aunt. She will for sure be on our side because she is so sick of all the fighting and loss. And she likes your mom a bit. They've gotten together for coffee a couple times since the war." I nodded. I remembered my mother coming home in tears after one of these visits saying she hadn't realized how much she missed her baby sister. I had a gift from my mom for Aunt Andromeda in my bag. "Like I said, with Ron, don't even try but dear lord whatever you do, do NOT say anything bad about the Chudley Cannons or Dumbledore himself couldn't stop your death." She took a deep breath and looked at me. "It's not going to be easy, Draco. But if we want this to work in the long run we need to tell my family." I nodded and leaned down, planting a soft kiss on those beautiful lips of hers.

"Ginny don't worry. I've been through worse. It's just that in the last war I fought in I wasn't fighting to get people to like me. If they don't like me they're going to talk you back into your senses and you are going to realize you're way too good for me and leave me and my heart will be broken and I will have to go back to Romania and let the dragon's eat me to distract myself from the pain and then I will just be sitting in the afterlife waiting for you." She grinned.

"Don't be ridiculous," She cupped my cheek in her hand. And kissed my cheek before she continued our trek. "If you wanted to kill yourself you could at least do something useful with your death and see if a boggart can actually do anything but scare people. I mean we defeat them so quickly that we don't know what they really can actually do. After their prey is petrified can they attack? Do they eat them? Do they make them into a boggart themselves? I mean we don't even know what boggarts look like, we don't know much of anything about them. If you're going to kill yourself do something like that, not get eaten by a boring dragon." I pulled her back, grinning when I saw the smirk on her face.

"Again, thanks Gin, I really appreciate your support in all of this." I said planting my lips on hers. This kiss was not one of the sweet innocent pecks we had been exchanging all day. This was one of our more normal kisses. The kind that made my entire body shake with happiness and could make her knees begin giving out before I would sweep her up into my arms feeling her tingling legs around my hips. She pulled away, panting.

"We can't." She breathed and I nodded, taking a step back. "We have to prepare ourselves to show minimum public displays of affection today, with my family everywhere and tonight when I go home with you for dinner to meet your parents. We have to be careful before everyone gets used to us." I nodded. This was our plan and we were sticking to it. I took her hand chastely and we slowed our pace as the top of the Burrow, as Ginny called it, came into view.

"Remind me," I said, my stomach tied in knots so complex magic couldn't untie them. "What did you tell them?"

"I said that I had been seeing a guy and I was really into him and I was bringing him home to meet everyone and that if they messed this up for me I would curse them into oblivion." A grin snuck its way onto my lips.

"Well as someone who has been on the receiving end of some of your curses I must say that with a threat like that hanging over their heads I'm probably actually pretty safe here." I joked.

"Yes, I will protect you against my big bad family." She rolled her eyes.

"It's not that I'm scared of any of them individually but there are so many of them. They could all gang up on me!" I protested.

"Really, you're not scared of _any_ of them?" she pried with a grin.

"Okay, Granger is a little scary but you said she might give me a chance!" Ginny laughed and my heart soared. I could get through this Christmas with her by my side. No problem. I could get through hell so long as my own personal Heaven was waiting for me on the other side. We walked up the pathway and Ginny knocked on the door. I could smell something delicious and as I looked around I realized that I like the Burrow. Sure it wasn't a Manor but there was something extremely homey and comfortable about it. At the Manor I always felt cold and alone but here, I could hear the shouts and footsteps of people inside, I could smell Christmas dinner cooking and I could practically feel the warmth emanating out of the oddly shaped tower of a house. The door flung open and Mrs. Weasley enveloped Ginny in a hug speaking rapidly about how long it had been since she'd been home. (It had been a week and seeing as she lived in the heart of Wizarding London it didn't seem so odd that Ginny wouldn't come by the house every day.

"Mum, this is my boyfriend Draco Malfoy." She gestured to me, strength and stubbornness blazing in her eyes. Mrs. Weasley's eyes opened wide as she took me in. I swallowed nervously and stood still, allowing her to look me over.

"Happy Christmas, Mrs. Weasley." She glanced back at Ginny and bit her lip.

"Are you insane? You couldn't have brought him around to meet just me and your father you had to do it when the whole clan is here? You just enjoy making life difficult for yourself don't you Ginevra. Good Lord, you poor boy." She wrapped me in a hug that smelled of flour and cinnamon.

"I don't believe we've ever properly met but of course I know who you are." She said kindly. "Today is going to be interesting but if they ever start on you, you just come and find me and I will keep you out of their reach. My best advice is to just be your lovely self and I'm sure they'll all come around. Steel yourself young man, we are about to see how brave a Slytherin can be." She took my hand and led me in keeping a firm grip on me. She had just hugged me. I could count the number of times my own mother had hugged me since I had gone to school on one hand. I glance back at Ginny who nodded enthusiastically. I was right. Mrs. Weasley had accepted me.

"I completely forgot." I blurted out, opening my bag and pulling out a bouquet of flowers. "I picked these for you. Thank you so much for having me for Christmas Dinner." I said, earning a ready smile from the woman.

"Well Ginny I must say he's got better manners than anyone else in this building. I say you've don't well. You said you picked these yourself?" she looked at the flowers appreciatively.

"It's just this thing I've done since I was a kid. My mom keeps beautiful gardens and I like mixing and matching the colors and shapes."

"This is more than a hobby Mr. Malfoy, this is a talent! These are beautiful!" she exclaimed.

"Er Mum?" Ginny jumped in. "He prefers Draco, the family names a bit sensitive." I smiled awkwardly at Mrs. Weasley hoping that she wouldn't use that information against me. I didn't like giving people a weapon and the knowledge that I resented my family was certainly that.

"Oh, of course darling, forgive me. I'm just going to go put these in water. Ginny the family are all in the living room if you want them to meet Draco." She rushed off but turned around and winked. "Except for your father, he's out back in the shed pretending he doesn't have a muggle car and that he's not tinkering away at it to make it fly." Ginny grinned and pulled me back in the direction we had come from.

"Come on, we'll get dad on our side before we throw you into the Lion's Den." I was too nervous to respond so I simply followed her. I didn't care where we were going. I would follow her anywhere.


	2. Wizards and Prejudice

**Author's Note: HP=Not Mine**

**Enjoy and Review!**

**Ginny Weasley**

I pulled his hand and led him out to the shed, knocking on the door before rushing in. "Hey dad?" I called out. I heard a quick scuffling of metal parts and I grinned. "Mum's inside cooking, dad." The scuffling stopped and his head poked out from behind a potted plant.

"Ginny dear!" I hugged him.

"Happy Christmas dad!"

"Happy Christmas Ginny!"

"Dad, I want you to officially meet my boyfriend. Draco." I purposely left off the 'Malfoy'. Dad was pretty touchy about Lucius and it would only help Draco to not be immediately linked in my dad's case.

"I'm sorry, I believe I misheard. Why is Draco Malfoy ex Death Eater and horrible purist standing in my shed with a backpack and a nice wizard suit on like he's planning on staying for any extended period of time?" I opened my mouth to answer but Draco beat me to it.

"Because Draco Malfoy, ex coward and the adult version of the young boy who was brainwashed by his family is in love with your daughter sir, and I was invited to spend Christmas day with your family." He held his head high and my dad never noticed the quiver in his fingertips. He was being brave, because he wanted my father to respect him. And I loved him all the more for it. I gave him a proud smile. I knew how painful the memories of his past were and I wanted so much to spare him from speaking of them which is why I had held this off as long as I possibly could. But what he had just said touched me and I hoped that his bravery and honesty would touch my father's warm heart as well. I particularly glowed when thinking about those few words in the middle, that 'in love with your daughter' bit. I reached over and took his hand in mine.

"Dad?" I asked trying not to sound as nervous as I felt.

"I'm sure your mother needs some help with the food. Why don't you and your friend go inside? I am going to keep working in here. I will see you for dinner Ginevra." He turned around and walked away. My heart dropped. I looked at Draco and he was looking at me.

"I'm so sorry." I began as I gave his hand a quick squeeze. Draco's arm wrapped around me and pulled me into a hug.

"Oh come on, I expected this, I'm ready for all of this. I just know how much you want everyone to accept your decisions and I know this must be hard for you. Are you all right?" I nodded and tucked my head into his big chest. Draco kissed the top of my head and held me close for a minute.

"You smell good." I muffled by his robes. He let out a sharp short laugh and took my hand in his.

"You do too, come on ginger, let's go see if I can outrun your brothers."


	3. The Lion's Den

**Author's Note: HP= Not mine (obviously) Enjoy and Review!**

**Draco Malfoy**

My heart broke for Ginny as we walked back to the Burrow. I had expected this. The fact that her mother had been as kind as she had was completely unexpected. But I knew that she was headstrong and wanted her family to accept her decisions and trust her. I wasn't the guy for that job. She deserved better than me, but I loved her. Not to mention, I wasn't the good guy, I was selfish. And even if she deserved a hero like Potter-head or Longbottom, I wasn't about to step aside and let them have her. She was mine. We walked to the door and I could feel her hand shaking in mine. Her father's refusal to accept me had shaken her visibly. "Oh come on," I whispered in her ear. "Where's that Gryffindor courage I hear so much about. You're acting like a _Hufflepuff_." I hissed the word as though it was a curse and it brought a giggle to her lips. She squared her shoulders and walked through the door, practically pulling me along behind her.

"Happy Christmas everyone!" She said loudly. Their return chorus was cut short as they saw me. She battled on as though nothing were amiss. "This is my boyfriend, Draco Malfoy." There was a moment of shocked silence and then everyone began talking at once. Yells and anger began flying around the room like bullets and thank Salazar for Mrs. Weasley who had the wherewithal to silently cast a protective charm between Ginny and I and the rest of the Weasley clan because within a minute actual curses began to fly. Ginny and I didn't raise our wants but I could feel the tight grip of her fingers around mine and I knew that she wanted so badly to pull out her wand and start shooting hexes left and right. The hexing died down as the attackers realized that nothing was touching us but their wands were not lowering.

"Great, are you all done attacking us now?" Ginny asked. "Why don't we all go help mum in the kitchen?" She suggested making a move towards the door.

"She kicked us out and you aren't going anywhere Ginevra Molly Weasley." Ron practically yelled from the corner.

"Fine. We can answer any questions you may have regarding this relationship but if you try to attack my boyfriend again we're leaving and I'm never coming back, got it?" The wands lowered slightly at Ginny's words but I could still see the hatred in their eyes. Potter and his besties were probably the angriest, followed in short order by Angelina Johnson, the three oldest Weasleys (I didn't know which ones were which) and a horde of ginger people I had no names for. Even if they didn't know me personally, they knew my name and that was enough. Oddly, George Weasley didn't look angry as much as amused and to be honest, that scared me more than all the furious Weasley's combined. I had seen the work of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and I didn't fancy being turned into a Canary at any given moment or being cursed by some magical object that I would never be able to see coming. People shifted and Ginny and I sat down on the couch, facing more gingers than I had ever seen in one room. We stared at them and they stared at us. "Well are you going to ask us anything or just sit there looking stupid?" Ginny finally asked bluntly. I bit my lip, trying not to laugh.

"Is this a joke?" Ron spat out after a pause. That one question began a waterfall of inquiry that ran so quickly I couldn't tell who was saying what.

"Do mum and dad know?"

"Do _his_ parent's know?"

"When did this start?"

"_How_ did it start?"

"Are you sick? Do we need to take either or both of you to Mungo's?"

"Is this a joke!?"

"How long has this been going on?"

"Maybe it's Polyjuice Potion! Ginny, are you trying to trick us? Because it's funny-you got us-you can tell us the truth now!"

"Was this going on _before_ the war?"

"Maybe this is just a boggart guys! Could this be all of our worst fears?"

"Was this going on at school?"

"OH MY GRYFFINDOR!" Hermione's scream, silenced everyone else. "Was he the one in your room last year when I accidentally walked in on you that day?" Our silence for each of the previous questions hadn't cause any sort of ruckus but when we paused on that one it felt as though an earthquake had just began rumbling through the house."

"Shut up!" Ginny finally yelled. "You do realized you just asked us about fifty questions simultaneously. Take a breath while we start answering!"

"First off, it's not a joke. I'm in love with Ginny." I began staring everyone down, daring them to contradict me.

"And It's not magic fooling you or us being sick, okay?" Ginny spat out angrily. "We're in love. Deal with it." Mouths opened across the room but Ginny gave everyone a glare so chilling that I had goose bumps. "Mum and dad know. We are telling his parents tonight. It started my last year of Hogwarts." Ginny paused and glanced at me, suppressing a grin. "And the answer to Hermione's question is, kind of, complicated." I snorted but my smirk soon disappeared after seeing the looks on the horde of red heads before me. "I mean he was there, but it's not what that sounds like!" Ginny said before anyone could attack me. "It's a long story."

"Well, if you're talking, we are listening. If we're listening we can't be killing your new boy toy." Ginny seemed to consider this before nodding and starting the story. I leaned back and took her hand in mine, rubbing small circles on her palm until I noticed George Weasley staring at me pointedly. I dropped her hand from mine and stared back in a sort of contest as Ginny spoke.

"So this all started the summer before my seventh year,"


	4. The Truth

**Author's Note: WARING! Things get ever so slightly steamy in this chapter! This chapter is rated T! BE WARNED! Okay now that that's over-Enjoy! Review! And (obviously) HP=Not Mine. Please let me know what you think about this! Thanks for being patient-I know this chapter took a while-but in return for your long wait time I give you-AN EXTRA LONG CHAPTER! YAY! **

**Ginny Weasley**

Tears streamed down my cheeks as they shoveled dirt in over my brother's casket. He was gone. Fred was gone. George was practically in the hole he was leaning so far over his twin. I should have gone and comforted him, but I had no comfort to give. Mum and Dad obviously felt the same way as no one made a move towards George's uncontrollable sobbing shell of a wizard. Finally Angelina Johnson stepped forward and pulled him back as the tombstone was set in place. Most of the Wizarding population was here and there wasn't a dry eye within ten miles of this place. I suppose I should clarify, the entire Wizarding population who had fought for the winning side was here. Many others were in hiding, avoiding us (the war hadn't magically changed people's prejudices) or to cowardly to show their faces. After a few moments of silence George raised his wand shakily and pointed at Fred's tomb stone. We all shrieked loudly as a multitude of fireworks erupted from behind it, a shooting star leading directly from the tomb to the sky above. Some of Fred's best work erupted out of his tombstone including one of those dragon fireworks that had chased Umbridge around the school during my fourth year. Within moments laughter mixed with our tears and we slowly began walking out of the graveyard and back to Weasley Wizard Wheezes for the party George had planned. Our family was the last ones out and halfway down the walk I realized I had left my purse in my seat.

"Mum, I have to run back and grab my purse. I'll meet you there." I kissed my mum on the cheek and after peeling my heels of and holding them in one hand, my bare feet hurried back. As I entered the arch into the graveyard I noticed a dark figure furtively looking around before he approached Fred's stone. He knelt down and put his hand on the rock, pale, long fingers shaking. As the figure bowed his head, the hood on his cloak fell back to reveal short blonde hair. Malfoy. Anger boiled in my stomach and I was about to storm forward and hex him until he was a vegetable until I heard it. Soft crying. I paused and listened.

"I'm so sorry." Draco Malfoy whispered. "I know this was all my fault and I am so sorry. You probably don't know this, but even though we hated you on principle, because you were Gryffindors and Weasleys and all that, all the Slytherins thought that you and George were incredibly funny." He paused to wipe a tear from his eye. "Like that time when you set off a bunch of fireworks in the middle of exams and scared Umbridge out of her mind. Or that time you turned the corridor into a giant swamp. I'm sure you know but there is still a little corner of that corridor that is roped off. Flitwick said that it was really good magic and the teachers just left it. Even Snape left it, when he was headmaster and wouldn't let the Carrows touch it. I wish I had been braver, like you were. You and the rest of the red heads were rebels through and through. You were never afraid to fight for what you believed in. I wish I had been that brave. I can't help but feel that this was all my fault and I just wanted to tell you that I was so sorry." He stopped speaking and I realized that I had begun crying again. I had no idea. I crept forward and put my hand on the crying boy's shoulder. For a second he leaned into it, taking as much comfort as he could be then, as if realizing what he was doing, he jumped back and stared up at me. "I, er, thought you were all gone." He said awkwardly after a pause.

"Er, we were but I forgot my purse so I came back." I responded. These were the first words I had spoken to Draco Malfoy since I had hexed him in Umbridge's office. It had only been a couple of years, but it seemed like a couple of lifetimes. We both knelt in silence and looked into each other's eyes.

"Did you hear all of that?" I nodded. "Are you going to go tell everyone and ruin my life?" He looked oddly nervous.

"Not if you don't want me to." I said. And oddly, I meant it. What he said had changed my whole perspective on him. I could see him in a different light now and I knew that if I told the others things might even be a lot easier for him out there. But Malfoy had pride. And I knew saying all of that to a tombstone had taken courage for him. I wouldn't want someone spilling my secrets to anyone else. He nodded curtly.

"Thank you Weasley."

"It's Ginny, if you don't mind, Malfoy." I added careful not to sound as snippy as I felt.

"You do see the irony in that sentence, yes?" He questioned, coaxing a grin out of me.

"Anyway, er, thank you for coming and paying your respects Draco." He nodded and leaned forward to give me a short hug. I was surprised at how warm he was. I knew it was prejudiced of me but as a Slytherin and an ex Death Eater I had thought his embrace would be cold and stiff but this hug was anything but. His arms wrapped around me in a perfect fit, his height allowing my face to fit snuggly against his broad chest. We pulled away and I missed the embrace for a second before I realized what I was thinking about. Shaking it out of my head I focused on the words coming out of his mouth.

"I'm so sorry for your loss." He said quietly. I nodded.

"Thank you, Draco." His name felt weird on my tongue, like I shouldn't be saying it but it didn't feel unnatural. In fact, it felt relatively normal considering the mess that was cascading around my family these days. I had been to more funerals in the past week than some people were forced to attend in a life time. "And I am sorry about your father." His dad was back in Azkaban. He wouldn't be escaping this time. He only had a five year sentence given that he had testified against many of the masked men and had deserted Voldemort in the end. It probably didn't hurt that Voldemort had stripped him of his wand and had forced him into many of the missions. It also didn't hurt that his wife had saved Harry's life in the woods. Draco shrugged.

"No you're not. You shouldn't be, anyway. He deserves it. I'm shocked I didn't get locked up for a while." He was weirdly calm about the whole thing and it made me want to wrap my arms back around him and comfort him.

"See you around Ginny." I smiled.

"I doubt it, Draco." I replied before picking up my purse and walking away.

Several months later, Hermione and I entered the prefects coach. The entire train ride had been weirdly silent and I knew Hermione was feeling strange without either of the boys here. Sure things were a bit awkward between her and Ron after the kiss situation in the Chamber of Secrets, but she would still rather have her best friends here than spend the entire day with all of my friends. We were in the same year now, and due to the number of people her age who had skipped out of Hogwarts last year, there were a few extra students in all the houses. That meant that a couple houses had an extra prefect or two, and though some people might have been mad about Hermione getting head girl when she hadn't even been in our year originally, no one was. It was just expected. Of course the governors had given Hermione Head Girl. Had I gotten Head Girl over Hermione Granger it would have been a big fat joke and no one would have taken me seriously. Not to mention that it sounded like a lot of work and I was happy to let Hermione handle that. Even the female Slytherin prefect, Arabella Winston didn't care.

As I said, a couple kids from her grade who had been in hiding last year were back for their last year at Hogwarts but not a lot of Hermione's close friends. I had been made prefect much to my chagrin and I had half expected George not to make endless fun of me given the fact that making fun of Ron's prefect-ship had always been Fred's favorite pastime but sadly, I did not get a pass on that one. If anything, it was worse as he tried to make up for his twin's lack of mocking. As we sat down and Hermione walked to the front to give her Head Girl speech I noticed a swish of platinum blonde hair at the front of the carriage. Draco Malfoy was back? Sure he had missed his last year due to all that Death Eater stuff he had been forced into but I had assumed he would just move on like Harry and Ron had done. I noticed the badge. He was Head Boy. My lips twitched up to the side. Good for him. Good for the governors. He was going to get hell from most of the students here, the teachers might as well show that they had faith in him

He had changed. Harry told me about how in the end, when he had fallen out of Hagrid's arms a wand had suddenly rolled to his feet. He hadn't thought twice about it seeing as Voldemort was shooting killing curses at him and he was running for his life but when he inspected the wand later to return it to its owner he found that it was Draco Malfoy's wand. Draco had given Harry his wand, knowing perfectly well that a full on war was about to erupt and doing so would leave him defenseless. He had helped in taking down Voldemort and pretty much saved Harry's life. When he looked up he caught my eye. I stared into those grey orbs for a minute before we both looked away awkwardly. The meeting continued and soon we were pulling in to Hogwarts. I was one of the last ones to leave the carriage but just before I could step out an arm appeared out of nowhere and I was pulled under the safety of an invisibility cloak. There was someone directly behind me and I could feel there warm breath on my neck, the curve of their body pressed against the back of mine. I slowly turned around, careful to stay under the cloak. I had been right. I was looking up at the soft grey eyes of Draco Malfoy.

"Sorry." He whispered our breaths mingling we were so close. "But I had to talk to you." I nodded. "I just wanted to say thank you, you know, for not telling anyone about the thing, over the summer."

"I promised you I wouldn't." he nodded but was giving me an odd look.

"To be honest, in my world, promises don't mean much." He continued. "This isn't me making a move or anything Ginny, I just wanted to say thank you and offer you some compensation for your silence." My brow furrowed.

"I'm sorry, what?" he pulled out a small leather bag and poured a few galleons into his hand. More galleons than I had ever held in my life, actually.

"I want to thank you for not telling and ensure that it stays that way." I looked at him in disgust.

"I don't want your money, Malfoy."

"I thought we were passed last names, _Ginny_."

"And I thought you might start to see me as something other than a poor, blood traitor whose silence can be bought." Glancing behind me I made sure the room was empty and I ducked out from under the cloak, and walked angrily down the length of the train, following the first years onto the platform. Money was a touchy subject in my family. And despite the fact that most of us were dirt poor, we didn't take handouts and we didn't buy and sell secrets like some black market tradeoff. I was offended, to be honest, and I had thought that maybe everyone else was just as sick of all the prejudices as I was.

Jump forward a few months and we still hadn't exchanged words since that day on the train under the cloak. We had four classes together and even patrolled together at times and yet we hadn't said a single word to each other. It was my solo patrol night and I was wandering the castle when I found myself drifting towards the seventh floor corridor. I stared at the wall behind the room of requirement and sighed. I had spent so much of last year in that room with all my friends, fighting a war. It didn't open now. Apparently the fire Draco's friends had set had destroyed the room. McGonagall had said that it was likely because at that moment in time the people nearest the room's entrance needed the room to close off so that they and the rest of the castle wouldn't be destroyed by fiendfyre and so the room decided that what they required was for the room to cease to exist, so it did.

I missed that room. Despite the war raging around us it had been a haven and I had some really good times in that room. People looked up to, let me lead them. I wasn't a younger sister, or a child that needed protecting but a leader, and Neville, Luna and I were a team. I like being part of a team, part of its essential workings. With Harry, Ron and Hermione I was the little sister. I was surplus. But in that room I was someone. And I loved it. I touched the wall and ran my fingers across the cool brick. I pulled my hand back as a sharp shock raced up my arm.

"Weird, right?" a deep voice asked from the darkness behind me. I spun around and saw the blond Slytherin walking down the hall, wand held aloft and lit up like a lantern. "Nowhere else does that. Just where the door was."

"You know about the room?" I cursed myself internally. Of course. That's how the Death Eaters got in that night. He could see in my eyes what I was thinking but he didn't comment and somehow the smirk he flashed me didn't seem so cold and bitter.

"I may have spent as much time in there as you and your 'Dumbledore's Army cronies." He joked. "I kind of miss it this year." I nodded.

"I know what you mean. If was kind of like a haven last year. I know McGonagall says it's gone for good, but that shock? I mean there has to be some sort of magic left."

"Yeah, but what if the fiendfyre is still in there? It might not have died?" He responded still walking towards me.

"But what if the fyre only happened in that version of the room, say we ask for, like, the room we all stayed in when the Carrows were ruling the school."  
"Interesting hypothesis. Too bad we'll never know."

"Says you. And that's the kind of attitude of someone who won't ever know."

"Is that why you always come up here on patrols? Trying to figure out how to get back in."

"I don't know, I just sort of drift this way. Naturally. It's like all halls in this school lead me here. All the secret passageways, all the hidden corridors, even when they lead out of the castle, I end up here."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Secret passageways? Hidden Corridors? That lead _out_ of the school? I mean I know about some of the shortcuts to classes but what are _you_ talking about?"

"Are you telling me that the Slytherins don't sneak out of the castle? They don't know where the party spots are? They don't know how to sneak in the kitchen and nick food?"

"You know where the kitchens are? Oh come on, you've never nicked food. And what do you mean party spots?" Malfoy seemed incredibly shocked.

"I knew it Slytherins are softies. Come on, big boy. We've still got an hour or so of patrol time. I'm going to let you in on a few secrets." We walked around the school and I showed him the secret passageways, the hidden rooms, and even more shortcuts. We ended up in the corridor outside the kitchen. "So now that you know where to look are you going to bust all the Gryffindor parties?" I asked casually. For some reason I had this image in my head of one of our parties but Draco was there, dancing, drinking and laughing with the rest of us.

"Me against 50 Gryffindors? I doubt it. But maybe we can sync schedules and I can host a few Slytherin parties when you Gryffindors are tired of staying up all night."

"Don't be ridiculous, we don't get tired. We can sleep when we're dead right?" he grinned casually

"So why are we standing in an empty hallway?" I returned his smile, trying out the Malfoy smirk for size.

"We aren't. We are standing outside the kitchens. And you are about to be unimpressed by all my food stealing stories once you see just how easy it is." I reached out and tickled the pear and after it giggled. I grabbed Draco's sleeve and dragged him through the passageway and into the kitchens.

"Elves." Draco breathed. "I never stopped to think about it, but house elves! That's fantastic!" It was just getting light out and the elves were beginning to prepare breakfast. We were only supposed to have patrolled until 4AM but it was almost 8! We would have to hurry to get ready for classes today. Kreacher ran right up to us and began hugging my legs. "Kreacher?" Draco asked questioningly.

"Have you two met?" I asked, handing Kreacher a note from Penny. Penny was Teddy's house elf as Tonks' heir, but as Teddy was barely two years old and well cared for by his grandmother and Harry, he didn't seem to need a house elf. Harry had suggested she work at Hogwarts but Penny missed being near Teddy. When she had gone to visit him she had met Kreacher and the two now had a strange yet adorably romantic relationship. Kreacher had volunteered to take her place at Hogwarts where he had several friends and she could care for his Master Harry who had Teddy half the time anyway. They had agreed but due to Penny's fear of owls they only ever corresponded through Harry, Hermione and I. I wondered what they would do next year.

"Yeah, he used to bring messages to my mother and my Aunt Bella." Draco nearly spat out. Kreacher hung his head.

"Hey, Kreacher, it's okay." I knelt down beside him and wiped a tear from his check. "All that is over, and Master Harry is very proud of how hard you worked during the battle. You really saved a lot of people." Kreacher gave me a small grin.

"Thank you, Mistress Ginny," he bowed low. "May I get you anything for breakfast this morning?" He asked.

"Well some tea would be great, and if you have any of those little croissant things with the raspberry cream on top I wouldn't say no to a few." Two house elves with silver platters carried my order up to me within moments. I could hear Draco's impressed laugh.

"And for you sir? Can we get anything for you?" a small squeaky house elf asked, staring up at him with big blue eyes.

"Some bacon and scrambled eggs would be great if you have any." Within a minute he was forking food into his mouth. I dug a short list out of my pocket and handed it to Kreacher winking.

"If you had these things ready at 11 tonight I might be able to find some people to eat them." I said grinning. Kreacher nodded and ran up to pin it to a small board over some stoves.

"I shall find you at 11 to deliver you food. How many do you expect tonight, Mistress?

"Only 150 tonight Kreacher. We are just having the upperclassmen. Gryffindors and Ravenclaws." Kreacher nodded.

"Wait, are you serious? You actually are having a party tonight?" Draco cut in.

"It's Friday." I replied, shrugging. "And it's the Patil twins' birthday so we are going to throw them a little something." Draco looked at me almost in awe. I glanced at my watch. "Damn, we're going to be late for potions if we don't hurry." I grinned at him. "See you there in 10." We both hurried off to our respective dorms and I rushed through getting ready. Damn I was tired. I hadn't slept at all last night. Not even for half an hour. It was going to be a struggle to sit through double potions on a lecture day like this. I should have asked for coffee instead of tea downstairs. I was 5 minutes late to class and I had to take the only seat available. Thankfully Hermione had saved it for me right next to her. Lavender Brown's cousin, Lola, turned around a glared at me. I hated her. She was so annoying and completely in love with half the boys in the school. She hated me too but for what I had no idea. I was nothing but nice to that crazy girl.

Halfway through the lecture I could feel my eyes dropping. My head kept nodding down and as I realized I was falling asleep I would shoot it back up. I could hear Malfoy laughing behind me each time it happened and after a bit I turned around and glared at him.

"Gryffindors don't get tired, huh?" he whispered. I rolled my eyes and tried to return to the lecture. My eyelids dropped and the next knew someone was loudly yelling my name while Hermione kicked me under the table. I whipped my head up and found myself staring at Slughorn's very disappointed eyes.

"Miss Weasley, sleeping in class? I'm afraid that is going to be a detention. This Saturday, at 10, and 10 points from Gryffindor." My face blanched.

"But sir, the Quidditch match," I began.

"Well perhaps it is just as well, and next week you will come to class fully rested." Oh no. I couldn't miss the Quidditch match against Slytherin. I was the team captain for crying out loud!

"Um, Sir?" I heard a voice behind me just as the rest of the Gryffindors shot me a death glare. "I'm sorry. But it wasn't Weasley's fault." The entire room was silent. Draco Malfoy was sticking up for a Gryffindor. A Weasley too. You could hear a wand drop. "It was me sir. I cast a sleeping charm. It was just meant to be a joke. I'm sorry sir. I'm very sorry Weasley." We made eye contact and I looked at him curiously. What the hell was he doing? He could miss the match as well! Hell without Draco Gryffindor would flatten Slytherin. There backup seeker was a joke.

"I see. Well in that case, _you_ will take Miss Weasley's place during her detention." The lecture continued but there was no longer the slight hum of murmurs and whispers during class, everyone was dead silent and glancing at Malfoy intently. He had just bowed out of a Quidditch match that, without the opposing captain, they most certainly would have won, and handed himself in because he felt _badly_ about putting a sleeping charm on someone. Not one of them was more confused than I was. He hadn't put a sleep charm on me. He had just covered for me, despite the fact that it was guaranteed to mean a detention _during_ a Quidditch match and that Gryffindor would win the game. What the hell was happening?

Wind ran through my hair. We were tied. We had been winning but somehow Slytherin's Seeker had caught the snitch while Harper Johnson had been flirting with the beater. I was going to kill that girl. We were tied up and Slytherin had made that last throw. If I could make this, we would continue fighting for the win. If I didn't make it, we would lose. Win this game and Gryffindor had a definite lead for the House Cup. Lose this game and Slytherin took our place. I could do this. No problem.

That's when I saw it. A blond head practically running out of the castle and towards the pitch. Draco. He had finished detention. A detention he had taken for doing absolutely nothing. A detention he had taken for me despite the fact that he should have been in this Quidditch game. Hell, had Draco been here today like he should have been, Slytherin would have won, hands down. Harper had played like shit ever since she and that beater whose name I could never remember began flirting. I could play Seeker far better than that. I was going to kick her off the team. Get a new chaser and take the Seeker spot myself. But I couldn't take this game. We didn't deserve it. Slytherin should have won. We had a second match against them in two weeks and by then the Gryffindors (minus Harper plus a new Chaser) would crush them. But today, we didn't deserve it. With one glance down at that blond boy, staring up at me through the crowd and noise, I threw the Quaffle. Directly to the Keeper. Slytherin won. But give me two weeks. Draco Malfoy and I were even, and next time? I would make him cry.

_The Next Day_

A hand gripped my wrist and I suddenly found myself in a broom cupboard staring into the silver grey eyes of Draco Malfoy. "What the hell was that?" he hissed. "You could have beaten our keeper with your eyes closed.

"It was a bad shot, okay? Could you not make this worse the Gryffindor's are already up my back about it."

"Yeah, because you're one of the best chasers Hogwarts has seen since Gwenog Jones and our Keeper is complete shite. Why did you do it Weasley?"

"Why did you take that detention for me? You didn't put a sleeping charm on me, I don't even know if that's a real thing! And the fact that your _backup_ seeker made Harper look like a fool is just embarrassing. If you had been there we would have lost the game in five minutes flat. Besides, I'm replacing a couple players so when we play in two weeks it will be fair and I don't have to feel guilty about winning."

"First of all, unless you have found a way to bring Potter or your brother back, what was his name, Charlie? Whatever, since you can't do that, it's not going to matter. We will still beat you next match, this was your chance at tying us up. Second of all, sleeping charms do exist and third of all, because it was kind of my fault you were so tired in the first place. I felt bad." I was a bit shocked at that last bit.

"Bad enough to miss a Quidditch match?" I asked snorting in indignation.

"Yes." He said simply. The smirk disappeared from my lips and I was very suddenly aware of how close we were standing. "Look, Ginny, I love Quidditch, really I do, more than just about anything. But you, you live it. You fly as easily as you breathe I remember in fifth year when you played seeker and even without Potter or the twins Gryffindor still crushed us. I know you love the intensity of being a Chaser but I've seen you demonstrating to your Beaters and filling in for your Keeper during practice, you play all the positions equally well and if you don't go on to play professionally something is wrong with the world. I don't care if you've gone and lit all of Hogwarts on fire, on _purpose,_ you shouldn't have to not play Quidditch." I stared at him in shock and for once in my life I had no words.

"You've watched our practices?" I asked finally, not able to for another coherent thought.

"Oh you know, spying on the enemy, getting ideas, that sort of underhand Slytherin thing." He protested sheepishly. He was lying. That wasn't it. Had that been it the Slytherins would have suspected our new Chaser formation that had thrown them COMPLETELY off guard today. But if that's what he wanted me to think, I could go with it for a bit.

"Right, you're all cunning and ambitious. Makes sense."

"Nice of you not to add evil to that list."

"If cunning and ambitious is good enough for the sorting hat its good enough for me." We stood in silence for a minute. I had definitely missed transfiguration. McGonagall was going to kill me. Some dust ticked my nose and I awkwardly sneezed. Not a cute, lady like sneeze but a full on, I-was-raised-with-six-older-brothers-and-am-pretty-much-a-guy-myself kind of sneeze. A lock of hair fell in my face and I tried to hide my eyes or blushing cheeks behind it as I apologized. Suddenly a pale hand with long, thin fingers was brushing that lock of hair behind my ear. Chills ran through my body starting at the spot on my cheek where his hand had touched. Everything was happening so quickly and yet it also felt as though the world was moving in slow motion. All of a sudden my face was cupped by his hands and then his face was mere inches away from my own. It was so quick, so sudden I didn't have time to prepare myself for what I inwardly hoped was about to happen. And yet it was as though every moment had a million more like it between it, like it wasn't happening fast enough.

And then his lips were on mine and his arms were wrapped around my waist. Lights flashed behind my closed eyes and electricity surged through my body like a lightning bolt. My fingers were gripping his robes so tightly my knuckles were white and I could feel the slight quiver of excitement in his hands as they lifted me up off the floor and pulled me into a warm and electric embrace. I wrapped my legs around his waist and buried my hands in his hair. A soft moan escaped my lips as his tongue slid expertly between my lips and began exploring my mouth. I wasn't about to let a Slytherin beat me in this match. Returning my feet to the floor I pushed Draco up against a wall and slid my hands under his dress shirt. I could feel him melting into my body and we were pressed into each other so tightly it was a shock we didn't just become one person. Our breaths were coming out short and heavily. The crashing sound of a bucket kicked by God only knows which one of us broke us apart momentarily. Us. As in me, and Draco Malfoy. Shit.

"Right," he said after an awkward silence. "So,"

"Yeah, um thanks, you know for the whole detention thing." I said.

"Oh, yeah sure. And thank you, you know for the whole throwing the game thing." I nodded. "See you around I guess Malfoy."

"You too, Weasley."

I slowly walked down the hallway attempting to smooth my hair and fix my robes. For the third time that week the only coherent thought in my brain was, "What the hell?"

_Two Weeks Later_

I stared into those grey eyes as I shook hands with my fellow captain.

"Lydia Bowman is your new seeker?" He scoffed. "Sure she's can fly well enough but she wouldn't spot a snitch if it flew around her head." It was game day. And all those memories from the cupboard were tucked away nice and tight. It was payback time. Payback for what I wasn't sure but I was pissed and it was his fault.

"Actually she's our new chaser Malfoy," he glanced over the team in confusion.

"But,"

"_I'm _the new Seeker. Good luck today ferret." He looked a bit scared and I stalked back off towards my team. "All right Gryffindors, let's make all those early morning practices worth it. Lydia, good luck, I know you'll be brilliant. Demelza, you need to take my place in the new formation-don't forget because when you did in practice you all just ended up on a heap on the ground, Pike don't let a single Quaffle through those posts, got it?" they all nodded and whooped in excitement. "Brilliant. Let's go kill some snakes." We took off and the game began. Apparently Malfoy had commanded his troops to score as much and as quickly as they could. They were play a heavily offensive game and I casually looped around towards Malfoy.

"What, trying to score 160 points before I catch the snitch?" I taunted. He laughed as if it were a joke but I could see the truth in his eyes. "Oh my gosh! You _are_ trying to score enough before I catch the snitch! Are you afraid I'm a better seeker than you?" I taunted.

"No! We are just trying out a new offensive strategy-practice it on your horrible team before we go up against Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff." I smirked.

"Well it might work on those half-ass teams but as you can see it's not working on us." I grin and glanced at the scoreboard. 50-30 in Gryffindor's favor. Sure we needed to catch the snitch to win, but I had my eyes wide open and Draco was clearly distracted. By me. An oddly light tingle spread through my limbs at that thought. Slytherin scored a goal and a cheer went up through the green clad crowd below us. I pretended to be disappointed as Malfoy laughed at me. He didn't realize what I saw. And it was going to be hilarious. There was a flicker of gold behind his head. Right, behind his head. I slowly grinned at him and looked behind my shoulder, faking a surreptitious glance back and forth. Draco looked distractedly in the direction I was faking a snitch spotting and as he scoured the sky I speed off after the little golden ball. I heard Draco swear loudly behind me as he realized what I had done. We chased after the thing for ages. I never lost sight of it but I couldn't catch it. I seemed to stay a few feet ahead of Malfoy most of the time but a few times, here and there he passed me up, sweating profusely and flying as recklessly as he dared. But my natural flight was comparable to his version of reckless, wait until he saw me fly in a way _I_ considered crazy. We were going at least 50-probably more when it happened. My broom jerked sideways, nearly throwing me. I furrowed my brow in confusion. I hadn't done that. What was happening to my broom? A few meters later it happened again. I nearly slid off the side of my broom but I managed to swing full circle and end up back on top of my broom. Malfoy was no longer watching the snitch but staring straight at me.

"Weasley! What the hell are you doing?" He yelled back. I looked up, the sure that the feeling of fear in my body was evident in my eyes.

"Nothing!" I yelled as my broom whipped around. I was thrown off, holding onto the handle with one hand. I screamed and heard half the crowd below echoing my screams. The broom began vibrating wildly and I couldn't hold on any longer. My fingers slipped and even though I grabbed at my broom with both hands I couldn't get a hold on it. I was screaming loudly as I fell towards the ground. That's when I saw it. A flash of gold flickered before my eyes and mid fall I reached forward and snatched the little ball out of the air. I had done it, I had caught the snitch. But I was still falling. In a desperate free fall, screaming as I rushed towards what would most likely be my death until all of a sudden I felt an arm snatching me out of my free fall and onto a broom. Without thinking I enfolded my savior in my arms and tried to catch my breath. I looked up to find a pair of steely grey eyes staring at back at mine. One of Draco Malfoy's arms was wrapped around me keeping me safely on his broom and the other was steering his Nimbus 2005 towards the ground.

As we settled to the ground a crowd of people swarmed out of the stands towards us. "You saved my life." I murmured. We were both breathing heavily as he dropped his broom to the ground.

"Yeah," he murmured back.

"I am so sorry." I said, biting my lip as I tried not to grin.

"What? Why?" he asked, confused. I wordlessly held out the snitch. The slight smile dropped off his face. "When did you catch that?" He asked furiously.

"When I was free falling, before you caught me." When the first few people reached us and saw me holding the snitch they gasped. Soon enough the entire crowed stilled and saw me holding onto the little golden ball. After a few seconds of stunned silence a cheering noise began rippling through the crowd that soon turned into a roar. The rushing group of people began pulling us apart. I tried to yell out one final thank you and an apology but before I could I was being hoisted on the Gryffindors' shoulders and carried away to a rousing chorus of 'Weasley is our Queen'. I was torn. I had been dreaming about a moment like this for two weeks. Two weeks of hoping and praying that I would catch the snitch and beat Draco Malfoy. But he had also just saved my life. He had a lead on the snitch, a perfectly good opportunity to get it without me chasing him, and still he had stopped immediately and had the wherewithal to go catch me.

_Two Hours Later_

A party raged on in the common room celebrating Gryffindor's incredible nail-bitter win but I was sitting in a hallway, contemplating. I had just won the Quidditch Cup which put Gryffindor firmly ahead for the House Cup. I should be thrilled, tickled even. He had given up the chase, completely stopped paying attention without a second to even think about it. He didn't hesitate for a moment before rushing down to save me. What's more? According to Hermione Granger he had done a 'Wonky Faint thing". He had caught me in a Wronksi Feint. One of the most dangerous Quidditch maneuvers in the world, diving straight towards the ground and pulling up just before hitting in order to fake out the other seeker, only this time Draco dove towards the ground and put himself in danger in order to snatch me out of the air before I hit the ground. Why did he keep protecting me? I didn't know and there was only one place I was likely to find out. I practically sprinted to the Owlery and snatched Pigwidgeon from his perch. He hooted happily at me as I tied a note to his leg. He flew off and I paused a few minutes, willing the recipient to have already received my owl despite the knowledge that Hedwig herself couldn't fly _that_ fast and sighed. Whatever- I would wait for him there. And with that thought in my mind I ran off to the room of requirement and waited. And waited. And waited. For three hours. Finally I sighed. He wasn't coming. I got up, about to leave when a long, pale hand grabbed my arm, stopping me.

"Ginny, wait."

"Draco," I breathed. We stood staring at each other before I finally gave in and flung my arms around him. His arms wrapped around my lower back and I felt his face burying itself in my shoulder. I returned the gesture subconsciously, burying my face in his broad chest.

"Thank God you're alive. I thought you were going to die." I inhaled deeply. Godric Gryffindor he smelled good.

"Are you insane? Why the hell would you do that?" I yelled as I put my hands on his broad chest and pushed him away from me. "That was incredibly dangerous! You could have died! Someone would have slowed me down before I hit the ground, you had no assurance that you would make it out of that move unhurt! Why would you do something like th-"

"I don't know." He broke in, grabbing my arm and stopping my attack. "I don't know why but the second I heard you scream I completely forgot we were even playing Quidditch, I just knew I needed to help you."

"I didn't mean to win." I blurted out. "I just saw the snitch in front of me and grabbed it-it was an instinct! If I had been thinking than I wouldn't have gone near it I swear!"

"Did you just apologize for catching the snitch?" he asked with his signature smirk back in place. "Ginny that was the most incredibly catch this school has seen since Potter's first year when he fell off his broom and nearly swallowed the thing. Maybe I should try jumping off my broom. Maybe that would help me become brilliant."

"Don't you dare!" I exclaimed, deadly serious.

"Why not, would you miss me?" He joked, casually pulling me back towards him as slowly as humanly possible as if he didn't want me to notice what he was doing. He was joking but the laughing face seemed to be a façade over a serious idea. I paused and thought about that for a minute before answering. It was such an odd question. It wasn't like we saw each other or spoke all the time like my other friends but the thought of him not being around, the thought of me not seeing him in the halls or feeling the heat of his stare on the back of my neck, the idea that I wouldn't be able to play Quidditch against him ever again or feel the heat rush to my cheeks as someone interrupted one of my, um, daydreams, about Draco.

"Yes. Yes I would." I rushed back into his arms at the very thought and held on to him as if by grabbing him she could keep him near her. "This doesn't make any sense. I've spent my entire life hating you and everything you stand for, but since that day in the graveyard, you aren't 'Malfoy' anymore, you're Draco, and you're my friend."

"Friends. Is that what we are? I know we haven't really spoken in two weeks, but, ah," he trailed off and looked up at me from under his eyelashes.

"Kissed, Draco?" I suggested. "Is that to what you were referring? Or perhaps you meant since you took my detention. No-you mean since I threw that Quidditch match! No? Since I showed you the kitchens? This is about the food isn't it! You feel awkward about how I showed you how to get free food and you want to repay me and you don't know how, and-"

"You talk a lot Ginger," And before I could respond Draco Malfoy had pulled me into his arms and covered my lips with his. That electric fire rippled from my lips and through my body, resting in my fingertips and toes. My knees went weak and I my head began spinning. I wrapped my arms around his neck and slid my fingertips through his hair. It was soft and silky and I gripped it tightly, pulling his head back and giving myself access to his long pale neck. I abandoned my attack of his lips and focused on leaving my mark on his collarbone. He groaned softly and we fell back against the wall not thinking about a thing. His strong arms lifted me up and pulled my legs around his hips as I crossed my ankles behind his back. A hand was cupping my arse and the other was holding the back of my head almost protectively, like people did in those muggle movies. I returned my attention to his lips his tongue ran across my lower lip and I eagerly opened my mouth giving him quick admission. When his tongue brushed against a particularly sensitive spot in my mouth and I instinctively rolled my hips against his. His groan was louder this time despite the fact that my lips were muffling him. I could feel him growing beneath me and I knew that I was getting just as excited. I pulled my head away from him and tried to catch my breath. We were both panting.

"Cupboard. Now." I gestured to a door behind him and he barely hesitated before he pulled on the knob and practically threw us both inside. There was a pile of towels and blankets in one corner and I pulled him down on top of me and we continued where we left off.

That night was the first of many and as we met it became less about the physical aspect of our relationship and more about a pathological need to be near each other. We talked almost every day, meeting in this cupboard or that, hiding out in the kitchens, meeting up in Hogsmeade. I got to know him better than I had known anyone in my entire life, family included. Long story short, I fell in love with him.

That was how Draco Malfoy and I met for real, fell in love and started dating. But there was no way in hell I was telling my family that.


	5. Also the Truth-But a Bit More Secretive

**Author's Note: HP=Not Mine**

**Enjoy and Review!**

**Ginny Weasley**

"So this all started the summer before my seventh year," I began. "I was chosen to be a prefect and then you know," I paused and glanced around. "Err, prefect duty. My last year of Hogwarts." I glanced at Draco nervously and saw that he too was thinking of how we _truly_ met. The entire family looked at us, seeming extremely put out.

"That's all we get?" George deadpanned. "We let the boy live and you give us a handful of words and a noncommittal noise? Ginny. Have Fred and I taught you nothing? You can lie better than that!" I rolled my eyes at my ear-impaired brother and tried again.

"Okay fine. We saw each other at the prefects meeting at the beginning of the year and ended up having to work a ton of patrol shifts together and we became friends." I glanced at Draco. "I think I'm gonna have to tell them the New Year's story." Draco bit his lip.

"I think you might have to." He was holding in a laugh.

"Oh, sweet Merlin this is going to be embarrassing." I began. "So New Year's Eve." I glanced around to make sure my parents weren't in the room. "You know how there's always a huge Gryffindor party on New Year's Eve?" they nodded as though it was no big deal.

"What is it with you Gryffindors? Do you just party all the time?"

"Life _is_ a party." George responded grinning.

"Well Hermione and I snuck out to the Hog's Head," I tried to get on with my story but George needed details.

"Did you take the passage behind the three eyed witch on the third floor?"

"No we went through the statue, Gregory the Smarmy on the fifth floor and got into Honeydukes, snuck out through there." Hermione added wanting me to hurry up and get on with the story.

"Why on earth would you do that when the three eyed witch takes you to Aberforth's basement?"

"Because Mrs. Norris was camped out on the third floor stairwell and there was no way we were getting past her without an invisibility cloak and we didn't have one George!" She sighed rolling her eyes. "Okay Ginny, get on with it!"

Anyway we got back and Aberforth had been really drunk and gave us like, half his entire stock of alcohol so the entire house was getting completely wasted."

"Wait, where did you have the party? Room of Requirement's not working." Harry cut in, eyes narrowed.

"The hidden corridor behind Slughorn's office. I remembered Charlie saying that he had hosted a little shin-dig back there once like a billion years ago."

"Slughorn let you all go through his office to get there?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Of course not you prat Hermione swiped the key during one of their study sessions." I returned before continuing. "Anyway soon enough a ton of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were there as well and pretty much every one in Hogwarts over the age of 15 and under the age of 25 were there along with four or five centaurs and since we were so close to the dungeons it was inevitable that one of the Slytherins would find out."

"Did you…"

"Muffliato, Salvio Hexia, and Hermione invented this alarm charm that set off an alarm any time a teacher got within a hundred feet of us." George was looking at Hermione wildly impressed as I continued my story. "Anyway, Draco and a bunch of other Slytherins showed up and Ashley Davies thought it would be a good idea to keep refilling my glass when I wasn't looking because she was in love with Draco and thought that he had his eye on me."

"Which I did, let's be honest here." Draco cut in. I bit my lip, hiding a smile however I continued my story quickly rather than relishing in that feeling he gave me when he said stuff like that when I saw the looks on my brother's faces. "Point of the story is, I got really drunk really fast and Ashley and her little cronies had be pissing me off all year and when they picked a fight with me I happily obliged, but as Hermione had already snuck out of the castle to see Harry and Ron so my number one back up girl wasn't there. Keep in mind that half of the DA still was there so it wasn't like I was outnumbered or anything, but long story short I kicked their asses." I paused for breath and a rousing volley of whoops and pleased yells came from my brothers.

"Yes, yes, you've taught your sister well," Angelina cut in, pinching George before he could start up a round of 'Weasley is Our King'. "Please continue."

"Right, so I kicked Ashley's ass and she and her two little Slytherin drama queens probably should have gone to the infirmary but we knew they'd tell on all of us so we just patched them up as best we could and Becca Hughes modified their memories a bit and then the we found the two most sober Slytherin's there to take them to Madam Pomfrey and tell her that they'd been dueling in the Slytherin Common Room but some of the Slytherin's didn't take to kindly to that and wanted to be her seconds and kind of tried to come after me, so I summoned the nearest broom and took off. Sadly given the proximity to the dungeons, the nearest broom was Draco's and he came after me for it and again, I was really drunk and lonely and kind of wanted to celebrate the new year so we were all alone when midnight came and I kind of sort of kissed him." I then proceeded to hear every response from,

"You did WHAT?!" and,

"Ginevra Molly Weasley!" to (Angelina's and Hermione's more female version,)

"Awwwww, that's so cute!"

"Oh come on! You all knew this is where this was going!" I cut them off raising one eyebrow. This was the part where I started deviating. Truly I had summoned Draco's broom purposely and Draco had followed me to make sure I was okay not to get his broom back and we had kissed for a while. Like almost an hour a while. "Anyway, Draco was a gentleman and realized that I was very intoxicated and nicely pushed me back and offered to walk me back to my room." Again deviation. I had slid my hands from his hair down his broad chest and over his abs before unbuttoning his pants. Okay, who am I kidding, my hands were completely down his pants and my shirt was lying on the grass before he pushed me back. We hadn't gone all the way and he told me later that he thought I deserved better than a drunken night on the edge of the forbidden forest. When he told me that my heart melted, but at that moment, I was drunk, angry and just wanted him. I picked up the story from there.

"Now the girls here know this but I don't really take to well to rejection and it generally ends up with someone getting hexed and that's pretty much what happened but Draco was still a complete gentleman and calmed me down and took me back to my room. He was about to leave when Hermione gets back from meeting Ron and Harry for New Year's Eve so without thinking I throw some Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder up before she can see anything and Draco crawls under my bed because even if I explained everything, it would look pretty sketchy seeing as my lipstick was kind of allover Draco's face. And Hermione got really suspicious and asked me about a million questions. Of course it was Hermione so she didn't believe me for a second when I said I was just drunk and accidentally knocked over my can of the powder. She kept me up almost the entire night and I had about the worst hangover in existence and she ran to the bathroom and Draco snuck out. And by the time she came back she decided that I must have had a boy over and started peppering me with questions about every boy she could think of."

"It was _Draco_?!" Hermione exclaimed. He was one of the few men who she hadn't guessed.

"Yeah but nothing happened!" I responded quickly before someone could hex him. "He was just walking me back to make sure I didn't make an ass of myself and got home safely. So a few days later I apologized to him and we became friends and we hung out in Hogsmeade a couple of times and we had a ton of classes together so we got to know each other really well and we just naturally progressed from there." I paused and looked around at everyone's faces. "Is that enough?" the girls nodded, enthusiastically grinning at the romantic tale but the boys seemed a bit more skeptical.

"All right. We won't murder your boyfriend." Percy decided for the group. There was a bit of grumbling from the rest of them. "But consider him on a probation period." I was about to protest when my boyfriend broke in.

"Thank you. I greatly appreciate that. I look forward to proving myself to you." There was an awkward silence until Charlie cut in.

"Well that was the perfect thing to say." He frowned ever so slightly and looked very disappointed. "I kind of wanted you to get really pissed at that and say something," He paused and tried to think of the proper word.

"Horrible?" Ron suggested.

"Evil?" George added, grinning.

"Ferrety?" Harry suggested hiding a smile. I snorted. Draco shook his head and a bit of color rose to his cheeks as he grinned, remembering.

"Thanks for that Potter." He returned taking extra care to keep any malice out of his voice.

"Draco, I don't know if you've tried them yet but Mum's made the most delicious mince pies and you really must try one." Bill finally said. Charlie looked up at his older brother and back at Draco. A small but forced smile graced his face as well.

"Yes, Mum will skin us all if we don't get rid of some of this food. I'm Charlie by the way, I don't believe we've actually met," He held out his hand and Draco grinned, shaking it. "I've heard your name of course, what with the whole OW!" I had kicked him before he mentioned the war. "Ginny! What the hell?"

"Good lord your brother's have no tact." Angelina muttered.

"Tell me about it." I responded glaring at Charlie all the while.

"It's quite all right." Draco said giving me a reassuring glance. "I've certainly deserve it. Speaking of names, however, I heard a lot about the infamous Charlie Weasley on my trip to Romania last summer. I was working with a rather talented witch, Ophelia Widdershins, and she couldn't stop talking about you." I bit my lip as they walked off towards the kitchen, Charlie suddenly grinning for real.

"You've met Ophelia then?"

"Yes. I am extremely interested in magical creatures and I had some time off my job so I volunteered transitioning domestic dragons back to their wild habitats."

"You worked with her actual program? That's extremely hard to get into!" Charlie sounded actually impressed which was not an easy feat by any means. Bill winked back at me and grinned.

"You told him to mention that didn't you?" Harry asked as he followed suit. I simply grinned and didn't bother to respond. The group followed Draco, Charlie and Bill into the kitchen to bother mum until it was only myself and George left.

"I knew you could lie better. I almost believed you." I grinned at my prankster older brother.

"Well you taught me the trick behind a really good lie,"

"Oh yeah? Remind me."

"Tell the truth."

"Don't be ridiculous, I know you baby sister, and that was not the truth." George insisted narrowing his eyes at me.

"Sure it was. Each and every one of those things in that story actually happened. Every bit of that story was true." I glanced around, looking for signs of extendable ears as was my habit when I came home. "As true as all the parts I left out." I smiled up at him innocently as he laughed.

"I've taught you well, young one." I hugged him. "That doesn't mean I'm okay with him." He turned to walk away but I grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"One of those parts I forgot to include," I began, checking his reaction before I told him the truth. "He came to the funeral." I didn't have to say whose funeral for George to know what I was talking about. "I went back for my purse and he was kneeling at his stone crying and apologizing for everything. He said that he always thought that Fred was hilarious and he wished he could do it all differently." George was a minute away from tears at any mention of his twin but this sent him over the edge. It was a minute before he found words.

"Then I guess I can't kill the prat can I? Not when he has such good taste in humor." I grinned.

"Thanks George."

"Don't tell _him_ he's off the hook!" he exclaimed suddenly. "I want him to sweat it out a bit." I smiled.

"Your secret's safe with me."

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